Hello, Yellow!

Jude's favorite color is yellow. I  think he can point out and say the colors yellow, blue, and red, but when we ask him what his favorite color is, he says with delight, "Yellow!"

If I hand him his blue car, I'll ask him what color it is. He'll point to the tiny bit of yellow trim on it and say, "Yellow!" Same with his purple car. Yesterday Jude shouted "Yellow! Yellow! Yellow!" all down the honey and mustard aisle at the grocery store.

For obvious reasons these are Jude's favorite pants of mine. There is nothing mellow about these neon yellow jeans from Francesca's Collection. On Thursday, I saw their tweet that they had just gotten some  bright denim and saw that they were in my price range and made in the USA. Needless to say, I high-tailed it to the Arboretum store to try some on. I literally sighed with happiness in the fitting room. They came home with me, and I wore them Friday and Saturday (I also got an orange pair, but I'm still trying to figure out how to style 'em):


date: 19 May 2012 // occasion: Renegade Craft Fair jeans: Francesca's // blouse: Lucky Brand via Savers (similar) // bag: Longchamp via an estate sale (Nordstrom) // necklace: Manic Trout // wedges: Cynthia Vincent for Target via Sydney (similar)
Last pregnancy I wore a lot of jersey knit dresses and flat sandals. This go-around, I'm squeezing myself into non-maternity jeans for as long as I can. It's become apparent that I need to get myself one of those belly band things. Question for moms: Did you ever buy a belly band to cover up the top of your unbuttoned pants? If so, would you mind recommending one that you liked? I'd love to keep wearing these jeans throughout the summer. And Jude would like it, too.

Haven't done one of these in a while!

Whoa. I haven't done an outfit post in a while. Truth be told, it's been really hard for me to motivate myself to do my regular, self-style daily photos. Hardly any of my pre-pregnancy clothes fit, and I've even outgrown my first batch of carefully selected maternity clothes! When I'm not wearing Hubs' workout shorts and a dirty tank top, I've been rotating between the same three cotton dresses. Trust me. Y'all don't need to see that!

I was kind of lamenting all this to my city group last Tuesday, so my sweet friend Joanie took pity on me and loaned me some maternity clothes. Since today was a gorgeous day and felt like a prelude to fall, I did something I don't usually do: I wore jeans (paired with a friggin' awesome kimono bedroom jacket I found at an estate sale last weekend).

This jacket cost me $2.00 with two milk glass vases and two rolls of craft paper. See why I love estate sales?

The sleeves are so much fun!

date: 3 September 2010
occasion: date night at Phil's Icehouse
jeans: Motherhood, loaner from my friend Joanie
tunic: thrifted Wet Seal via Buffalo Exchange
kimono: vintage via an estate sale
flip flops: Target (forever ago!)
fish necklace: gift from Annie

In other news, I bought a new foundation at Sephora yesterday. I have been loyal to Clinique's Superbalanced Compact Makeup since it first came out, but alas, it has been discontinued. Since I didn't have time to go to the mall to see a Clinique Beauty Consultant, I just went over to Sephora and asked for a full coverage cream foundation. I was immediately steered toward the Cover FX line. I did balk a little at the price, but I'm happy to report that it does a nice job at covering up my dark brown acne scarring, and when you use it with a foundation brush very sparingly, it does finish very natural and almost dewy-like:

My $42.00 face looks just like my $19.50 face.

I tweeted that I was sweating bullets paying $42.00 for a foundation. I could get a pair of shoes for $42.00! Clinique (at $19.50) is as high end as I get (this is, after all, an affordable fashion blog!), so though I really Cover FX, I don't know if I'll stick with it.

What about y'all? What foundation do you use and how much do you pay for it?

Housewifing!

I've worn an apron in an outfit posts before. Like last time, I was feeling particularly house-wifey today. Hubs bought us a new slow cooker, so I been testing out a vegetarian black bean chili recipe. I even made some Southwest cornbread and managed to keep my apron batter-splatter free:

I got this sweet little apron at an estate sale for less than ONE DOLLAR!

Hubs' incredibly thoughtful mom and her husband sent me this lovely bouquet of flowers today with a card saying "Happy Mother's Day. You're going to be a wonderful mother." Awwww...

Look! My bangs have grown out long enough to go back into my ponytail. Yay!

date: 6 May 2010
occasion: housewifing (if that's not a word, it should be!)
dress: second hand Jovovich-Hawk (clothing swap)
clogs: LEI (Walmart, on clearance for $3!)
wood bangle: Nordstrom Rack
pony pin: Fashionique (since closed)
apron: estate sale

Estate sales are still my most favorite place to get vintage items. I love walking through the rooms and examining the things that someone once loved. At the last one Hubs and I went to, I had an armload of items, and the sale organizers said I could have it all for a mere $20. This apron was among those goodies. It makes me happy to be able to give things new life. I try to imagine what kind of lady had a fancy blue apron like this, and I can't come up with anything. What are your guesses? Any ideas?

The World's Best Husband took me estate sale shopping yesterday!

Best husband, EVER!

Fact: Hubs hates shopping. He especially hates shopping with me. His hatred is compounded when he shops with me at things like garage sales, flea markets, vintage stores, and antique shops. It's probably because I look at every single thing and ask him a barrage of question after question, when he could not care less. Poor Hubs. After going with me to Saturday's City Wide Garage Sale, yesterday I begged him to go with me to several vintage shops and one estate sale. Luckily, we struck gold at the estate sale:

Solid wood window mirrors (one of which I repainted teal), hand stitched, Indian inspired pillows,
vintage handbags, dresses, skirt, and a Samsonite traincase (FREE from the nice man at the checkout table!).
All these clothes and bags for $34.50, total!

Get this: those dresses and that skirt are virgin vintage! They're from the 1960's, have never been worn, and still have the original tags attached! Squee! But, here's the tragic part: none of them fit me. They're made for a woman who is a little more shortwaisted than I am and who probably wears a modern size 2 or 4. So, alas, I cannot keep them. I will air them out and clean them up a bit and have the metal zippers reconditioned. Then, sadly, I will have to sell them. I am not quite sure if I'll consign them to a shop here in town or if I'll open up a little Etsy shop and sell them there. Nonetheless, I'm excited to have rescued them, and I think they'd be lovely additions to someone else's vintage wardrobe. Very Mad Men, if I do say so myself... especially that stunning white pencil skirt.

Thanks, Hubs, for taking me vintage shopping. I hope we find our dream furniture soon! (We're looking for a vintage dining room set, 1960's credenza to use as an entertainment center, a modern coffee table, Eames inspired lounge chairs, and a make-up vanity). I imagine I'll be hitting up all the estate sales in this area until we find what we're looking for.

Housewives, represent!

I don't think I've mentioned this on here, but for the last three months or so, I've been in full-on housewife mode. I had jaw surgery last April and along with jaw surgery comes a set of adorable pre-pubescent braces. You can't get acting work as an adult when you have a mouth full of metal. More than likely, they'll come off in October, and then I can get back to work!

So today, whilst in full-on housewife mode, I am attempting to make zucchini bread. Husband picked some ginormous zucchinis from our garden, and he asked if I would pretty please make some zucchini bread. He's just so charming that I had to comply. I wasn't planning on doing a style file photo today since I'm just schlepping around the house, but my apron is so cute that I just had to show it off.

date: 22 July 2009
occasion: baking zucchini bread for Husband
dress: Star Vixen (???) thrifted from Buffalo Exchange
1960's apron: estate sale
shoes: Target, Xhilaration

This apron was another find at an estate sale. In fact, it was the same estate sale where I found this suitcase. I cleaned up at that estate sale! I think I spent more there than my last few excursions of Buffalo Exchange. If I had more free time on my hands, I would start some sort of vintage shop with treasures that I find from estate sales. And just so you know, I would not call my shop "Dead Grandmas", mainly because Husband informed me that that would be poor taste... even though I asked my Grandma what she thought about this, and she thought it was funny.

1967 Cool Hand Indiana Style

"What we have here is a failure to communicate" is one of the best movie lines of all time. Last night CMA and I went to the Paramount Theater to watch Cool Hand Luke. If you haven't seen Cool Hand Luke, yet, I honestly have no idea how we're even friends. :0)

It was a pretty fancy date night, lemme tell you! CMA had a coupon for Souper Salad, so we totally hit up the buffet for an incredibly ritzy dinner.

Date: 8 July 2009
Occasion: Date night!
Details: purple dress-Thrifted via Buffalo Exchange. Brand- INC.
sunglasses- Urban Outfitters.
cork wedges- Target Xhilaration.
round suitcase- Vintage via an estate sale. Brand- Samsonite

Truly, that round suitcase is one of my favorite things, ever from an estate sale. Some people are totally creeped out by estate sales, but not me! I love 'em. At the last estate sale I went to, I got a typewriter, a yearbook, a Polaroid camera, a tape recorder, the suitcase, an Indiana glass pitcher, and a ton of insanely cute vintage clothing, all for under $40.00. Therefore, I really recommend getting over the creeped out feeling of buying a dead person's stuff.